In Development

Battle for the Classroom

This one-hour public television documentary explores the history of Native American education in the United States. Beginning in 2009 and with the assistance of a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, The Duncan Group started the process of documenting a long ignored yet highly significant part of American history - the Indian Controlled Schools Movement and the pivotal impetus, vision and achievements initiated by the Coalition of Indian Controlled School Boards. In the process, our focus expanded to include the history of the American Indian movement to regain control over a human right that had been subverted and denied for more than a century - the fundamental right of American Indians to educate their own children.

Many of the founders and behind-the-scenes activists at the base of the movement have passed away - but their stories live on. Several others, many of whom were on the front lines of the battle, continue the fight for a legitimate, recognizable, substantial, and equal voice for Native Americans in American society. Building on an impressive record of hard won reforms achieved through years of peaceful activism, they carry forth the critical imperative - We do not seek to be equal, we seek to be ourselves.

During 2009, The Duncan Group interviewed more than a dozen Native American scholars, activists and historians including Rebecca Adamson, Dr. David Beaulieu, Dr. Ada Deer, Ruth Roessel, Dr. Will Antel, Dr. Rosemary Christianson, Ladonna Harris and former Vice President Walter Mondale.

The film will be distributed for public television by Iowa Public Television (IPTV.org). For more information on the project, please contact Tracy Dorsey (Tracy@DuncanEntertainment.com).

Clash of Empires

This two-hour documentary will explore the complex relationship between empires of the East and West as we look back on the past century in the turbulent political, cultural and spiritual dynamics that have played out between Britain and Iran and, more recently, the United States.

Beginning with the 1905 Constitutionalist uprising and the Nationalist Movement of the 1950s through the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the political protests today, Iranians have fought for three basic rights: good jobs, good governance and freedom from oppression. With each generation, the source and political philosophies of that oppression have changed, but the fundamental beliefs of the people have remained the same.

CLASH OF EMPIRES offers a fast-paced, detailed and revealing analysis of a turbulent century in which the Iranian people have defied their oppressors - at home and abroad - amid ever-changing perceptions in the West.

82 Days -- Photographing Bobby Kennedy's Last Campaign

This feature length documentary chronicles the photojournalism behind the 1968 presidential campaign of Bobby Kennedy. The film is being developed as part of an overall campaign that will include an extensive photography exhibition. For additional information, please contact Chip Duncan (Chip@DuncanEntertainment.com).